Two Iowa-based organizations cut a very clear path for six presidential candidates participating in a forum at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines Saturday.

The candidates were each asked to answer six questions compiled by Iowans for Tax Relief and Iowa Christian Alliance on topics ranging from gay marriage to tax reform to border security.

Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson was first out of the gate, displaying his eagerness to get things done in Washington.

“I’ll have the border fence completed within 100 days,” Thompson said of the barrier slated to be built across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Securing the border was an important issue to the forum’s audience, based on crowd reaction. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., and Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., both received their loudest cheers for their aggressive stances on illegal immigration and border security.

“The first part of ‘illegal alien’ is ‘illegal,'” Tancredo said.

The candidates expressed their appreciation for the American people willing to make a change this election.

“There is no work going on in our country greater than the work that goes on within the four walls of the American home,” said former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

The candidates agreed unanimously on their definition of marriage as between a man and a woman, agreeing to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act if elected. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee said they would propose an amendment to the Constitution supporting that definition.

“We don’t need to redefine marriage,” Brownback said. “We need to talk about how to strengthen our marriages.”

Tancredo is also the co-sponsor of the FairTax plan, a nonpartisan proposal that would eliminate federal and income taxes and replace them with a national sales tax.

The only candidates at the forum to not fully endorse the plan were Brownback and Romney, saying they were not ready to endorse a plan they have not thoroughly reviewed.

Romney had plenty of his own ideas for tax reform.

“I want to end the death tax forever,” he said. “And make the Bush tax cuts permanent.”

Brownback showed his own disdain for the current tax system by stacking six massive books on the podium – the U.S. Tax Code.

“This needs to be taken behind the barn and killed with a dull axe,” said Brownback, the son of a Kansas farmer.